Seven Princesses

A Prophecy

Atlantis had fallen, the Amazons were the only race left to stand against the Kryptonian conquerors. The rest of the continent had fallen, the humans and elves driven from their countries by the might of Queen Astra and her hordes. Queen Hippolyta stood up in her stirrups viewing the valley below, the battlefield that could very well be the last stand for her people.

Their final battle began the next morning, at dawn. The Amazonian cavalry charged down the field, her archers released their arrows and she was satisfied to see several of the black-armored Kryptonians fall. Then her witches struck; they had discovered the Kryptonian weakness to magic too late to turn the tide for the rest of the continent, but here it could help. The magic stopped their forward momentum, but then their snipers targeted the witches, dropping six of her sisters in their first volley. The witches fell back as their numbers were quickly being decimated. Hippolyta's cavalry met Astra's heavy infantry and drove them back, but Hippolyta recognized the clever trap: Astra's troops were meant to surround and destroy the cavalry, but quick thinking by Antiope saved them, as she withdrew them quickly.

Then the infantries met in the middle of the field and the true chaos of battle began, swords clashed, and bodies fell. With all their strength, the Kryptonians did not possess the skill of the Amazons, so the fight was even. Then she saw Astra stride fearlessly into the mayhem, wielding that damned glowing green sword and slashing it as a woman possessed. Before she realized what, she was doing, Hippolyta drew her own sword and waded into the battle, drawn by the glow. Both women were moving like shadows through the battle and nothing could stand in their way.

Calliope fell, the green blade piercing her leg and she screamed as Astra ripped it free. The green blade was raised above her head, as Calliope looked into the eyes of her killer. She watched the blade descend, her eyes never leaving Astra's. Then the blade stopped, and Calliope blinked as she saw Tarie, the Queen's own sword block the green blade. She sighed a thankful prayer to Artemis and Athena as Hippolyta stepped in front of her directly into Astra's face.

"You wish to fight? Fight me, Kryptonian!" Hippolyta yelled over the deafening noise of the battle

Astra grinned menacingly, stepping back. "Are you challenging me, Amazon? Do you wish to die?"

Hippolyta matched the grin, setting herself firmly. She noticed everything, the set of Astra's hands on the hilt of her sword, the way her feet were set, Calliope's pained movements behind her, the sounds of the battle fading as her focus set on the warrior before her. She noticed a small shift in Astra's movements and brought Tarie up to deflect the green blade of the Kryptonian. Their blades clashed together as their eyes met, blue on grey. As strong as Astra was, Hippolyta was perhaps her match.

The Kryptonian backed away, it seemed as if the field of battle had formed a circle around the two warriors. Astra admired the way the Amazon relaxed into the fight, her eyes giving nothing away. She did notice a shift of the hands as the Amazon launched her attack, but suddenly it didn't matter as she was on the defensive. The Amazon may lack Kryptonian strength, but she was faster than Astra could ever hope to be. Her sword moved in a blur and Astra's was blocking by pure instinct, but even she wasn't perfect, and she missed one block and caught the tip of the Amazon blade in her shoulder. She grunted in pain as Hippolyta ripped the blade from her shoulder, but she refused to stop. Anger surged, and she launched herself at Hippolyta swinging her own sword in huge overhead strikes, driving the Amazon back. Hippolyta lost her footing and Astra swung the sword at her stomach. The only thing that saved her from being eviscerated was a stumble that pulled her away, the tip of the sword catching her across the abdomen and cutting through her leather armor and drawing blood across her abdomen.

The fighting was dying down across the battlefield as these two warriors continued to fight until there was no sound but the ringing of Amazon steel on Kryptonian crystal. The two women could draw no more blood, and their bodies were betraying them, weakened from battle and from blood loss, until finally, Hippolyta held up her hand, stopping Astra in her tracks.

"This fight... It could last days..." Hippolyta breathed out heavily.

"Uhh... I agree." Astra grunted.

Both women fell to a sitting position and looked at each other solemnly. "Truce," they both said at the same time.

An agreement was reached that the Amazon's would return to Themyscira, the largest of Atlantis' kingdoms, and everything east of the battlefield would belong to the Kryptonians. The battlefield itself was declared neutral ground by both kingdoms. As a gesture of peace, the two Queens exchanged swords. The Amazons then gathered their dead and wounded and moved tiredly back to the top of the valley and as they moved, a mist started to form around them hiding Themyscira and protecting the Amazons.

Hippolyta rode at the front of her army, leading her sisters back to the capital, as they passed through the gates, a messenger met them, begging her to come to the Temple of Hera. Hippolyta relayed orders to her captains to take care of the injured and dead and then she and Antiope rode towards the hilltop temple. They dismounted, exhausted, but as leaders to their people, they had a duty to the temple, to their gods.

"Xanthippe is in the main hall, your Grace." One of the handmaidens pointed them in the direction of the center of the temple.

Hippolyta and Antiope headed down the hall, finding Xanthippe in the hall. Of all the Amazons, only Xanthippe seemed old, her red hair showing signs of silver, a new strand appearing each time she made a prophecy. Her green eyes were also unusual among the women of Themyscira and they shone with the glint of unshared knowledge all the time.

"Your Grace, General, it is so good to have you home again. You reached a peace as I predicted." Xanthippe stated, smiling at the two women, then suddenly her eyes glazed over, becoming a milky white and she started to speak in a monotone.

"Snow brings darkness and light.

A soul torn in half by wild magic and evil

One half with, and one half without

One who wields and one who fears

When the two halves are reunited

Only then will Atlantis be saved from the Shadow of her destruction"

The color returned to Xanthippe's eyes and she looked at her queen and mumbled, "Your daughter... Seven princess..." Before she could finish, Xanthippe's eyes rolled back, and she fainted into the arms of the Queen.

"I have no daughter."

1500 years later, the Kryptonians had succumbed to the magic of the world, their strength drained as they now use magic just as humans and elves. Atlantis has splintered into six kingdoms, humans, elves, and Kryptonians live with a semblance of peace. Alura, Queen of Argo, the last pure Kryptonian kingdom is ready to deliver her child, while in the human Kingdom of Nereus, Queen Patricia Arias and her consort, prince Kurn Zod, a Kryptonian, patiently waited for their firstborn to arrive.

As both children decided it was time to come into the world, snow began to fall across all of Atlantis, and as the babies were born, a wave of magic rolled across the island, affecting none except the two baby girls that were born that evening. The first to be struck was Princess Kara Zor-El of Argo, who was crying as most babes did. When the wave struck the newborn girl stopped crying and her ice-blue eyes darkened to the color of cerulean. While in Nereus, the newborn Princess, Samantha Arias, of the House of Zod, took her first breath as the wave struck, causing her newborn eyes to flash gold and then settle into a deep rich brown with gold flecks.

In Themyscira, Hippolyta was awakened by her house guard. "Your Grace! Your Grace, you told us to wake you if... If ever it snowed."

Hippolyta shot upright in her bed; her blue eyes wide in fear. She flew from her bed to her balcony and saw the snow falling. She rushed back to her bed and grabbed her cloak, running down the hallway to another room. She pushed open the door and looked in, her daughter, her Diana, captain of the royal guard, the finest warrior in all of Themyscira, was asleep, unaware at her place in the fate of Atlantis...